Summer time fun!

It is summer. Time for fun in the pool

There are many fun things to do in the pool that can support your child’s engagement with you on many levels.

• Attunement: You can work on the child’s ability to be attuned to your face: you can slowly approach the side of the pool where the child is standing, building anticipation prior to swinging the child into the water. You can hold the child up above you, smiling and building the anticipation before you drop the child into the pool. You can slowly creep up on the child before you splash. You can hold a bucket of water up high and build the anticipation before you pour the water onto the child or just into the pool. You can slowly creep up on the child with the intention to gently splash. You can build the anticipation before you spray the child with water from a water gun. You can hold a small pool toy below the water surface and build the anticipation before you let it pop up. You can build the anticipation prior to ducking down under the water as the child watches.
• Visual referencing: You can visually reference which one of two pool toys the child can take to throw into the pool. You can visually reference which direction the child should throw the pool toy. You can visual reference to which person the child can jump. You can put two blow up tubes in the poor and visually reference into which the child should jump or throw a toy. You can visually reference to which side the child should swim.
• Permission: You can stand in the water and shake your head no and then nod yes to indicate when the child should jump into the water. You can vary up whether you shake your head yes or no, you can shake your head no no no then yes/ you can shake your head no no then yes, i.e., vary the pattern so that the child has to watch you. If this is easy, you could do the same but offer frowns and smiles instead of head shake and nods. You can do the same but offer permission about when to throw a toy. You can change it up based on whether you are in the water and facing the child or out of the water and walking around him/ behind him so that he has to turn to look to gain permission.
• Patterns: There are lots of patterns you can do: you give a toy and he throws/ you give a cup of water and he pours and gives the cup back to you (you could fill up a bucket and then together dump the bucket of water on your heads)/ you give a wet toy and the child dries it/ you fill a toy with water and the child squeezes the water out/. you fill a toy with water and the child stomps on it. You pop your head out of the water and the child pushes it down. The child climbs onto your shoulders and you help him to jump off. You dry the child off in a fun way and then move a bit away. The child then moves to you to get dried off some more. You squeeze a drop of sunscreen on the child’s arm and the child rubs it in.
• Coordination: You and the child jump into the water together based on the count to…. (vary the end number and mix up number) signaling when to jump based on head shake. You and the child walk together to pick up toys to throw into the water. You and the child coordinate when to start splashing. You and the child create waves together. You walk on one side of the pool and the child walks on the other. You stop and start together. Coordinate throwing toys out of the pool and onto a mat or into a bucket. Coordinate going under to blow bubbles. Coordinate going under the water and then popping out of the water - based on finger counting.

So much fun in the pool!